Over the 21st of August weekend the North Dakota Pointing Dog Club held its second horseback field trial at the Timm Ranch near Kensal, ND. Thank you to Curt and Tanya Timm for hosting us, and providing such wonderful grounds to hold a field trial on. Thanks also needs to go to Bill Holtan for establishing the relationship with the Timm’s and making this possible.

Since last fall’s trial held under the MN GSP club and this spring’s trial hosted by the NDPDC, word has quickly spread about the wonderful grounds, native sharptail grouse, and the level of competition. The trial was approved by the AKC on the 17th of July and within 10 minutes of announcing on our Facebook page, there were already over 100 entries received. Before the draw, there were over 230 entries requested. It was truly a humbling experience to have our club go from newly approved to such popularity within a years’ time.

Handlers from many corners of our Nation represented both the amateur and professional ranks. The three day field trial was blessed to have professional trainers Greg Dixon, Ray Dohse, Matt Eder, Tommy Hagan, and Ken Kuivenhoven compete their string of dogs. We also had competitive amateurs from Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Texas.

Judges were difficult to arrange so I want to say thank you to Chris Benskin, Jessica Carlson, Chad Chadwell, Dan Erickson, and Dave Pomfret for volunteering their time and effort in judging our trial. Trials take a lot of behind the scenes help to make everything go smooth from food preparation to bird planting to having a dog wagon. The crew that worked to make this trial a success included Chris Benskin, Greg Dixon, Bill Holtan, Kelly Jarmuzek, Marcie Schulz, Mason Schulz, and Devin Schulz.

Friday started with the Open Restricted Shooting Dog. We completed that stake and moved into running the Open Derby stake as Saturday’s weather forecast indicated rain and wind. Mother Nature did not disappoint and she brought sprinkles and wind gusts in the 30-40 mph range for the remainder of the day but we did manage to finish the Open Shooting Dog. That evening the majority of the field trial party made the short trip to enjoy a meal and refreshments at the Bordulac Bar & Grill, owned by Dan & Lisa Beckley. On Sunday we finished the last two stakes including Open Puppy and Amateur Shooting Dog.

Thank you to everyone that helped in running of the trial. The committee put a lot of work into making this trial run happen and run smoothly.

Thank you to Dean Reinke and Nestle Purina for providing bags of Pro Plan for the trial.